Cape TownCapital of South AfricaCape Town is a port city on South Africa’s southwest coast, on a peninsula beneath the imposing Table Mountain. Slowly rotating cable cars climb to the mountain’s flat top, from which there are sweeping views of the city, the busy harbor and boats heading for Robben Island, the notorious prison that once held Nelson Mandela, which is now a living museum.

Cape TownCapital of South AfricaCape Town is a port city on South Africa’s southwest coast, on a peninsula beneath the imposing Table Mountain. Slowly rotating cable cars climb to the mountain’s flat top, from which there are sweeping views of the city, the busy harbor and boats heading for Robben Island, the notorious prison that once held Nelson Mandela, which is now a living museum.

Small guide: How to work with the vector map?

You can:Mass select objects by type and color - for example, the objects type "building" (they are usually dark gray) - and remove them from the map, if you do not need them in your print or design project. You can also easily change the thickness of lines (streets), just bulk selection the road by the line color.
The streets are separated by type, for example, type "residential road" are usually white with a gray stroke. Highway usually orange with a brown or dark gray stroke.
All objects are divided by types: different types of roads and streets, polygons of buildings, landfills, urban areas, parks and more other.
It is easy to change the font of inscriptions, all or each individually. Also, just can be make and any other manipulation of objects on the vector map in Adobe illustrator format.Important: All the proportions on the map are true, that is, the relative sizes of the objects are true, because Map is based on an accurate GPS projection, and It transated into the (usual for all) the Mercator projection.
You can easily change the color, stroke and fill of any object on the map, zoom without loss of quality Image Verification.

Select object

Bulk selection the same objects on the vector map

See the bulk selected objects on the vector map

Bulk delete buildungs from the vector map

Select residencial road (small street) on the vector map

Bulk selection the same lines (streets, roads) on the full map

Create fat lines of the streets on the vector maps (bulk action) 1

Create fat lines of the streets on the vector maps (bulk action) 2

Create fat lines of the streets on the vector maps (bulk action) 3

You can easily change the color, stroke and fill of any object on the map, zoom without loss of quality Image Verification.

Tips/Tricks/Tutorials & News about vector maps.

Pages Since the ancient days - well, since late 1993 or so - production cartographers have been been stuck in an awkward technical limbo between GIS and art. Two platforms were required to get a map from vector geoprocessing to publication-quality graphics: Mostly ESRI's ArcGIS for the former and mostly Adobe's Creative Suite for the latter. Sure the two tried to overlap each other as time went on ("Seven hours to export a 900dpi TIFF and I can still see the pixels? Thanks ArcMap!"), but the basic math was tough to overcome: with finite memory on a workstation, ArcGIS focuses its resources on geoprocessing at the expense of the graphic outputs, and vice-versa.

This was the way of it when I started mapping. And the classic example of "You can't do that in GIS" is the buffalo tint popularized and used to wicked effect by National Geographic Maps. Basically it's a targeted feature fade, meant to draw attention to a focal point or to one side of a divide. And pretty hot too.

And it's not really possible in ArcMap. Here, let's try doing the inverse of a fade, which is easier to envision. This is more of a halo, and it's theoretically possible to do this by adding line layer after line layer, each offset and transparent-ed a bit more than the last:

Buffalo Halo a la ArcMap

Not too shabby, I suppose. A fade out from a clear focal feature. Maybe a bit heavy-handed, but it gets the message across. Too bad it took 30 minutes of clicking into five successive sub-menus on each of ten layers to get it done. And since ArcMap isn't a graphic engine, there's no anti-aliasing, and pixels are visible in every feature. This is not a production-quality graphic.

Let's try that again with Tilemill. I know I know, it's not a GIS engine, but it's a lot closer to one than Adobe Illustrator is, try as they might. Tilemill has full support for operations like selecting and styling by attributes as well as basic geoprocessing if the data is tied to a source like PostGIS, Google's data API or CartoDB's SQL API. Also it's free and open-source (I love that such news is ancillary to my point here. Woot!). As I've mentioned before, Tilemill brings the efficiency of CSS code to the map styling process, and it pushes everything through the sophisticated Mapnik graphic driver to look damn pretty for web or print.

Code will save us, right? Here, check it out:

Buffalo Halo a la Tilemill

This is a more subtle effect, with no striping artifacts, and all the linework is anti-aliased for smoothness. Bonus points for also providing an interactive output where the halo scales dynamically.

So what kind of Carto CSS went into that? Oh, just more than three hundred lines of recursively offset style code. Oy. It's true that it's portable (feel free to plug the code into your own project), but it's not ideal. Definitely not for fast projects under a deadline.

This is where compositing comes in. Last month, the indefatigable Mapnik team added support for the graphical magic that underpins programs like illustrator. This is part of a long-running effort by cartographic designers at Stamen and Development Seed to get out from under the Iron Adobe boot. (or the supple GIMP moccasin, I suppose). With compositing, all sorts of things become a lot easier to do in Tilemill, for instance what we've been trying above is now about 30 lines of CartoCSS, and much richer:

Buffalo Halo with Mapnik Compositing Mojo in Tilemill

The possibilities are sort of mind-boggling, and I invite all the actual graphic designers of the world to figure them out (The composite parameter alone in CartoCSS has 35 options). In the meantime I'll continue to look for ways to enhance my mapping toolkit; the next post will focus on reversing the direction of this effect, like in the NatGeo example linked above.

Free-Range Buffalo Halo, Thriving in its Natural Environment.

Thanks to Dane Springmeyer for pointing out the time-saving parameters on this one. Source.
Please also check this map catalog: South african maps.

Small guide: How to work with the vector map?

You can:Mass select objects by type and color - for example, the objects type "building" (they are usually dark gray) - and remove them from the map, if you do not need them in your print or design project. You can also easily change the thickness of lines (streets), just bulk selection the road by the line color.
The streets are separated by type, for example, type "residential road" are usually white with a gray stroke. Highway usually orange with a brown or dark gray stroke.
All objects are divided by types: different types of roads and streets, polygons of buildings, landfills, urban areas, parks and more other.
It is easy to change the font of inscriptions, all or each individually. Also, just can be make and any other manipulation of objects on the vector map in Adobe illustrator format.Important: All the proportions on the map are true, that is, the relative sizes of the objects are true, because Map is based on an accurate GPS projection, and It transated into the (usual for all) the Mercator projection.
You can easily change the color, stroke and fill of any object on the map, zoom without loss of quality Image Verification.

Select object

Bulk selection the same objects on the vector map

See the bulk selected objects on the vector map

Bulk delete buildungs from the vector map

Select residencial road (small street) on the vector map

Bulk selection the same lines (streets, roads) on the full map

Create fat lines of the streets on the vector maps (bulk action) 1

Create fat lines of the streets on the vector maps (bulk action) 2

Create fat lines of the streets on the vector maps (bulk action) 3

You can easily change the color, stroke and fill of any object on the map, zoom without loss of quality Image Verification.

Small guide: How to work with the vector map?

You can:Mass select objects by type and color - for example, the objects type "building" (they are usually dark gray) - and remove them from the map, if you do not need them in your print or design project. You can also easily change the thickness of lines (streets), just bulk selection the road by the line color.
The streets are separated by type, for example, type "residential road" are usually white with a gray stroke. Highway usually orange with a brown or dark gray stroke.
All objects are divided by types: different types of roads and streets, polygons of buildings, landfills, urban areas, parks and more other.
It is easy to change the font of inscriptions, all or each individually. Also, just can be make and any other manipulation of objects on the vector map in Adobe illustrator format.Important: All the proportions on the map are true, that is, the relative sizes of the objects are true, because Map is based on an accurate GPS projection, and It transated into the (usual for all) the Mercator projection.
You can easily change the color, stroke and fill of any object on the map, zoom without loss of quality Image Verification.

Select object

Bulk selection the same objects on the vector map

See the bulk selected objects on the vector map

Bulk delete buildungs from the vector map

Select residencial road (small street) on the vector map

Bulk selection the same lines (streets, roads) on the full map

Create fat lines of the streets on the vector maps (bulk action) 1

Create fat lines of the streets on the vector maps (bulk action) 2

Create fat lines of the streets on the vector maps (bulk action) 3

You can easily change the color, stroke and fill of any object on the map, zoom without loss of quality Image Verification.

Small guide: How to work with the vector map?

You can:Mass select objects by type and color - for example, the objects type "building" (they are usually dark gray) - and remove them from the map, if you do not need them in your print or design project. You can also easily change the thickness of lines (streets), just bulk selection the road by the line color.
The streets are separated by type, for example, type "residential road" are usually white with a gray stroke. Highway usually orange with a brown or dark gray stroke.
All objects are divided by types: different types of roads and streets, polygons of buildings, landfills, urban areas, parks and more other.
It is easy to change the font of inscriptions, all or each individually. Also, just can be make and any other manipulation of objects on the vector map in Adobe illustrator format.Important: All the proportions on the map are true, that is, the relative sizes of the objects are true, because Map is based on an accurate GPS projection, and It transated into the (usual for all) the Mercator projection.
You can easily change the color, stroke and fill of any object on the map, zoom without loss of quality Image Verification.

Select object

Bulk selection the same objects on the vector map

See the bulk selected objects on the vector map

Bulk delete buildungs from the vector map

Select residencial road (small street) on the vector map

Bulk selection the same lines (streets, roads) on the full map

Create fat lines of the streets on the vector maps (bulk action) 1

Create fat lines of the streets on the vector maps (bulk action) 2

Create fat lines of the streets on the vector maps (bulk action) 3

You can easily change the color, stroke and fill of any object on the map, zoom without loss of quality Image Verification.

In 2009 I was a "GIS Technician". Heaven help me, I was auto-completing polygons on good days and schema locking on bad ones, at a well-meaning but projection-free engineering firm with 300 AutoDesk licenses and 5 ArcEditor seats. It was the worst of times.

Early on that year I took a week off to go to Las Vegas with my wife, who was presenting at the AAG conference there (she's the brains of the outfit). Benefiting from the super-low "Spouse" attendance fee (academic geographers take note), I wandered from one cool session to another, my brain stimulated in new and exciting ways. I watched in a standing-room only crowd as Jack Dangermond explained how mashups (remember those?) were going to solve Africa's problems, and I saw my first demonstrations of Object-Oriented Image Analysis and Hyperspectral wetlands detection. Cool enough, but there was something disheartening about the fact that 95% of the map crunching I saw was being done by ESRI products.

On a whim, I went to a panel session called "Open Source GIS". Probably for the damn novelty of it, but also maybe due to some lingering frustration from being license-bound while trying to do mapping work in my peace corps years. The little room was about 3/4 full and the panel consisted of some folks from USGS who used GRASS and PostGIS, and also an animated fellow named Andrew Turner from FortiusOne, who had a few things to say.

The Open Source GIS Panel at AAG 2009. Note the overdressed gentleman about to drop some science on us. (Photo courtesy of Shriram Ilavajhala)

It was no great conversion moment. The session covered some pretty wonky stuff from the perspective of a button-clicking non-coder, though the enthusiasm was palpable in the audience. The real "Glitch in the Matrix" hit when I talked with Andrew after the session. In an information stream that challenged the human limits of spoken words per minute, he told me it might be helpful if I downloaded Quantum GIS (1.3, yo.) and took a look at GeoCommons.com. Back at my computer, the world opened up to me; this was the starting event that would lead to the creation of Geosprocket a year later, and for that I am eternally grateful.

An early, misguided attempt to use GeoCommons in mapping global coffee production. Things have gotten better.

In that session and in subsequent interactions, Andrew conveyed two motivations for his work with FortiusOne-thence-GeoIQ.

Open Source: OS software is just the tip of the iceberg. It fosters a culture of innovation and robustly supports the tools that people want most.

Open Data: Geographic information should be a public good (Geo"Commons" - Get it?), and we can all benefit from driving maps into the public sphere.

These drivers were not unique to GeoIQ; they are dear to many in our community. Over time I have adopted these and included them in the core of Geosprocket's mission. As such it was something of a body blow this morning to read the news that GeoIQ had been purchased by ESRI. The pundits have already weighed in eloquently on this deal, and I can't add any new market analysis. I've even run out of snark. I can only mourn a bit to see GeoIQ forced to choose between open source and open data, for they have surely chosen the latter.

I have no doubt that ESRI's resources will supercharge GeoIQ's pursuit of open data. If Jack and co. have the wisdom to scrap ArcGIS Online and replace it with "ArcIQ" the world will be a better-informed place. But I'm going to miss the code contributions of some talented individuals. I raise a glass to them for getting me started in this business.
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